


She Glittered Like Starlit Rain

by butimbroken



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-12
Packaged: 2018-03-05 14:13:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3123158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butimbroken/pseuds/butimbroken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy/Angel. After running away from her abusive home situation, Buffy finds herself hiding on the doorstep of a new beginning. Mature Themes. AU. COMPLETE.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

"Night Angelus!" Gunn yelled at his friend as he retreated out the door.

Angel laughed when he looked back, Gunn was waving wide and had a huge, very drunk grin on his face. "Night all." Then door clicked behind him and he continued to his car.

Angel had just spent the past few hours partying with his friends for his twenty-second birthday. And he was glad he hadn't gotten drunk off his ass along with them since the party place was quite aways from where he now called home. 

He had lived in the dorms for his first two and a half years. He finished out his third year of college renting an apartment, then moved the scale up this year and bought himself a house. He'd had the money all along, he wasn't Bill Gates rich or anything, but he was well taken care of for the rest of his life.

But that wasn't the issue at hand. He just wasn't ready. He thought it was a big deal, his own place. That was quite a big step in his mind, but something about the place he ended up felt right. He couldn't explain it... or why he even went to go check the place out in the first place. 'Another step in growing up,' he'd thought.

It was his last year of college then he'd be thrown out into the real world, unless he decided for more schooling. He hadn't really thought about it enough to have a set decision yet though.

Angel got to his present-filled car and hopped in. They'd had one small party with gift giving at the dorms with his friends, then another one at his house with other friends who'd forgotten, or he hadn't seen earlier, and this was the third round. Tomorrow he knew he had a family thing and whatever else might come. 'Thank God it's a Friday.' He doubted he could handle it this year if it'd been smack dab in the middle of the week. It never really ended well when that happened.

He looked through the window of the bar he just left and saw his friends still partying on. He laughed at their actions, at their continuing fun, then shook his head and started the engine and pulled out and headed home.

OoOoO

Buffy didn't know where in the hell she was and she continued cursing herself out for heading here, to Los Angeles, to somewhere she didn't know too well and didn't know anyone... or well, that was a lie. She knew people who lived here, just not how to find or get in contact them. Especially not off the top of her head. She was in a safer part of town at the moment, or so she assumed. She didn't know where it was though or how she got here exactly. Not that any of it mattered. She was just glad she was alive, or guessed she should be glad to be.

She had run away from her home in Sunnydale and came out here. She'd been in town a week tomorrow. And it'd been on pure impulse to come here, a stupid impulse, but she had to get away.

Buffy had some money, not a lot, but it had gotten her by. She knew it wasn't enough though, and after two nights, she stopped paying for motels.

She had brought along with her four quickly filled bags, but now was down to only three. Some guys and her had a confrontation earlier and she'd lost one in the trouble.

It was also how she got here now, to wherever here was. She had just ran and ran. She ended up hopping into a cab then when it got to fifteen bucks, she hopped out. Then she ran some more. When she found she couldn't anymore, she walked. And the next time she looked up, she was here.

She didn't know where she was, but she was tired and hurting still from what happened back in Sunnydale, then the events since being here in this crazy ass town.

Buffy knew that with her she had a few pairs of clothes, a few things of make-up, her toothbrush and toothpaste. She had a brush and small mirror, Buffy knew she still had Mister Gordo who was her favorite stuffed animal, two notebooks and a few pens. She had a few pictures of her friends and family back home. She had small bottles shampoo and conditioner, miniature soap and a few other odd things she'd taken from the motel. She had keys to things back in Sunnydale... like her house, her locker. She had two bottles of water that she had refilled time after time with a few snacks were still left. A few bottles of nail polish, very few things of jewelry, and an extra pair of shoes. She'd made sure to grab her state ID card, school ID and other informational things like that. She also had cards from different places she'd been since coming here, mostly cab drivers', and some other things she couldn't think of right now.

Buffy didn't take a lot when she left, but she was trying to remember what all she had with her. More so to keep her mind from freaking the hell out at the moment. And to keep awake.

It was night, which she hoped was good. No one would have to see her, but then she was afraid that could be worse, some strange figure moving around this fancy place at night? Someone might get worried. 'Homeless bum Buffy, here to rob you all! Right, that's me,' she thought tiredly.

And just as luck would have it, it started to rain, just sprinkles then a loud boom of thunder came followed by some lightening which made her jump and squeal.

Buffy hated storms. She liked rain, when she wasn't out in the middle of it with nowhere to go anyway. But hated storms. Had for the longest of times, too. She told herself it would just pass that it was hardly sprinkling anyway, but that thought wasn't much help because soon, without warning, it was pouring down hard.

She ran towards the closest house to her, thankful she didn't see any lights on, cars in the drive, fences, gates, or any dogs ready to attack. She hoped there wasn't anyone watching her in the houses around or in the house. She knew just because lights were off and didn't see a car doesn't mean they weren't really home. The garage door was closed and maybe even they were careless and besides, any neighbors could look and if they paid enough attention she was sure they could see her. She just hoped no one was giving a damn tonight. The porch to the huge house was roofed and that's where she ran to and into a corner close to the door trying to be hidden from onlookers. She shook from the cold and held her stuff close, hoping the shit would die down soon so she could get out of this place.

'Yeah, then I can go to the next place where I'll feel exactly the same,' she thought and her tears fell down with the rain.

OoOoO

Buffy had fallen asleep. She was not sure for how long and cursed herself for it too, especially when she realized what woke her up was a car pulling up into the driveway of the house she was hiding out at. The lights had flashed at her when it pulled in.

Panic filled her and grabbed her stuff and bolted up and into the still pouring rain, heading... well, she didn't know.

Somewhere. Anywhere.

OoOoO

Angel saw a figure run off his porch and was now running through his yard. 

He didn't know what the hell was going on.

It was raining and whoever was now running down the street in it.

He watched for a few moments, then not bothering to put the car in the garage like he'd been planning, chased after them.

It didn't take more than five seconds for the rain to completely drench him. It was raining hard. Really damn hard. But he'd easily caught up with the figure, noting it was a girl. There were a few street lights but some had been knocked out or something, but he was close enough now to tell. "Hey!" he called out still coming closer.

No answer, just more running.

"Hey!" he said again, "look, I'm not going to hurt you or anything." And he kept after her.

OoOoO

Buffy was terrified. 'Why the hell did I leave? Did I come here? Why did I let myself get into this damn mess?' she thought and kept running into the pouring and cold rain.

She was cold, sore and out of breath. She was wet and tired. And finally, her body just couldn't take it anymore.

Buffy collapsed.

OoOoO

Angel saw the girl fall and ran even harder towards her. He was fast but damn so was she, he'd get close then she'd just push harder.

She was struggling to pick herself back up when he reached her. "Hey," he said once more, "are you okay?" he asked, honestly worried.

"Look, yes, I'm fine. And I'm sorry... I'm just trying to go. I'm sorry that I bothered you... just please..." the voice finally spoke, scared and shaky.

Angel had reached her, stepped in front of her then knelt down to help. "I'm Angel," he said and grabbed the small girls arms to help stand her up and he started to again himself.

No answer, nothing besides crying.

"Shit, are you okay?" he asked again. He still had his hand on her shoulder and he stepped closer to her.

The girl finally lifted her head towards him and the most beautiful green eyes he'd ever seen stared back at him. They were so full of fear, hurt and pain. And, she was crying.

She was hurt, he could see cuts and bruises. He could also make out her outstanding beauty.

"I'm sorry..." she started, trying to hold back the tears stinging her eyes, "I just... it started raining... and... and... I didn't see any lights on and I... I hid. I'm sorry. I'm sorry... and leaving okay." The fight with tears was one she lost at that moment and she started to pull away from him.

Angel grabbed her gently to stop her. "It's okay... just.." he sighed, "just come back to the house with me okay? I can't have you running off into the night, in the middle nowhere in the rain." Angel turned her around and started leading her back.

But she tried to resist. "I.. I can't... just... I have to go..."

Angel started to tell her again, but instead, he picked the small girl up and started carrying her back, He was thankful she didn't attack him or fight him anymore after.

Angel carried her all the way back to his house. He saw he'd forgot to close the car door when he ran out and started towards it. The girl in his arms slowly looked that way and then started crying. "God, I'm so sorry," then started wiggling to get out of his embrace.

He held firm though. "It's okay, it's just a car," he said softly.

Angel reached the soaked car and sat himself down, still holding the girl in his arms, and sat down in the drivers seat. He sat halfway actually in the car, half not so much. He clicked the garage door opener and with them half sticking out and the door still open he turned the car on once again and slowly pulled it into the garage with his others. Then, once they came to a stop, shut the garage, turned the car off, grabbed his keys and helped them both back up, all while still holding onto her.

Angel closed the car door then started unlocking the door to get from the garage to inside his place. Once in, he flicked the light switch, thankful that it had worked and his lights weren't out because of the storm.

At least not yet anyway.

Then finally he gently let the girl down.

He didn't move away from the blonde, didn't take his hands off of her, just lowered her to the ground and helped her stand and finally took a good look at her now that he could see. She was beaten up pretty badly, but he knew she was without a doubt beautiful. She was a few inches over five feet with a small form but curved just right, especially for his liking. She had lightly golden skin, blonde hair to her shoulders and those emerald eyes. She had pouty lips and the cutest nose he'd ever seen and the fact that she was dripping wet and her clothes were clinging didn't escape his wandering eyes either.

And all the while he was taking her in, Buffy had been doing the same to this stranger. 'This hunk of a stranger,' she thought. The strange man was tall, over six feet she guessed. And strong. He'd picked her up like she was nothing, plus while he carried her all the way back to where she was now standing she could feel him. Now clearly see him too. He was soaked through his shirt and it was clinging to him. He'd worn a brown long-sleeve pullover and it outlined his muscles well. 'He must work out. A lot,' she guessed. His face was sculpted like a god. He had full lips she wanted to feel, to kiss and bite at. His eyes were brown and deep pools of chocolate she wanted to get lost in. He had even darker brown hair that she assumed he spiked. Some of it still partly was, but with the heavy rainfall, it had been patted it down. It was messy but cute. Everything about this man was.

Angel snapped out of his daze and smiled at her. "Here. I'll, uh, get you a towel and some clothes," he said as he carefully lead her to a chair in the kitchen. As she sat he started walking away but paused and looked back at the scared girl. "Please don't run off. I promise I won't hurt you. I'll just be a second," he pleaded softly. He got a nod in return. Then he left deeper into the house to grab her a towel and some of his clothes so that she could change into them.

OoOoO

Buffy just nodded at the man when he asked her to stay. She didn't have anywhere else to go and she hoped he didn't call the police or something on her. She scratched her head and looked around at her surroundings. 'He has a nice place. Big. Neat,' she thought as she continued to look. Buffy could see a cake and some balloons over on one of the counters. 'Might have been a birthday,' she thought.

Buffy didn't hear the man come back in, only the thunder that made her jump. "You okay?" she heard a second later causing her to jump again.

"Sorry," she said, "I'm.. yeah... not a fan of storms is all."

"Oh. Um.. well, here," he handed her a big green towel and some items of clothing. "Uh... they might not fit, sorry," he smiled weakly.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he held out a hand which she took after a moment of hesitation. "I'll show you to a bathroom so you can change. That is... if you want."

Buffy nodded and thanked him again.

OoOoO

"Feel free to use whatever's in here if you need it. Or if there's anything else just hollar and I'll see what I can come up with."

Buffy locked the door to his bathroom after she heard his footsteps start retreating away then switched the lights to a dimmer view. It was giving her a headache. Next, she slowly began peeling off her wet clothing. She wrapped the towel around her and looked at the tub. She wanted badly to soak in there for the rest of the night. She'd only taken showers at the hotel, didn't trust it enough for a bath, then of course the outside good times of this evening. But since it was still raining she knew she couldn't. 

Instead she sighed, grabbed a brush, then sat on the side of the tub and began to brush her hair out. A thousand thoughts were rushing through her head. About this guy, about her friends and family back home, what she was going to do next. She wasn't sure about any of it.

OoOoO

Angel thought he should feel something. Strange. Worried. Weird. Something like that. He didn't exactly go around inviting strange people into his home like this. She didn't look or have the homeless feeling, yet that seemed to be the case. He felt she'd been lost. He didn't see her moving towards a car or anything, plus the bags she had on her that were now sitting on his kitchen floor by the table she'd recently left. She was clean. And nice. 'Maybe she'd just lost?' he thought, among with a thousand other things about this and about this girl.

The whole thing? 'Just another feeling about,' he put it off as.

Angel was worried his lights might go out so began searching around for lanterns, matches and candles. and any other supplies they might need. Then he quickly fled to his bedroom to change himself, hoping she didn't head for the hills or something if she came out.

OoOoO

Buffy used the towel to dry her skin then her hair. She brushed it again afterward and reached for the clothes he'd given her.

There was a black tee shirt and a dark blue v-neck long-sleeved shirt to pick from. She thought that was sweet. 'He didn't know what to give me.' She grabbed the tee shirt and slipped it on. She figured it had to be kind of small on him but still she was drowning in it. He also gave her three boxers to choose from. There was one black with white hearts on it, one plain red pair and a black with gold lips all over pair. Or two pairs of drawstring pants... one black, one blue. She decided on the black pants, everything had been too big but the drawstring helped. They were still majorly long, the blue were shorter, but she liked silk better than cotton which the blue pair was.

She looked herself over in the mirror trying to fix herself up the best she could then grabbed her wet clothes. She folded them and laid them down in the corner then picked up the pile of clothes that were his and folded them and put them in two different piles. She used the bathroom, rearranged her clothing again, looked through the cabinets as quietly as she could.

'He did say use anything I wanted,' she thought as she grabbed the bottle of toothpaste and an unopened toothbrush and brushed her teeth.

She put those back up and decided to head back out.

OoOoO

"So... you're an angel huh?" she said as she made her way back out to where he was. It took a few wrong turns but she made it.

He apparently had gotten together some candles and stuff while she'd been away. Also he'd changed out of his own wet clothes and was now in some khaki pants and a brown tee shirt. He was at that cake she seen earlier digging in with a fork, looking at her puzzled.

"Earlier, outside.. you said you were an angel," she clarified.

He laughed, "Oh, no, I said 'I'm Angel.' As in that's my name. Angelus O'Connor actually but everyone calls me Angel."

"Angelus O'Connor," she repeated. 'Why does that sound familiar?' "Oh. You know Faith," she realized out loud.

"Faith?"

"Faith Lehane?"

"About this," he held his hand up, "tall, dark brown eyes and hair. Wears lots of leather?"

"Yep, that's the one."

"Yeah, I know her, or used to anyway... wait, you know Faith?"

"Sure... she mentioned you a time or two," she thought knowing a common person would make her feel safer, only to realize she'd felt safe with this guy all along.

Angel smiled. "I haven't talked to her in awhile. Small world though, huh?"

"I guess so."

"Want some cake? Or, well, something else? I have plenty." He grabbed a fork then pointed it her way.

"Sure, thanks." Angel waved her off as she walked closer and grabbed the fork. She couldn't make out what the cake might have said but figured once more that it had been for a birthday or celebration of some sort. "Did I miss a party?"

"Huh?"

She was chewing on a bite so just pointed her fork down at the cake they were both enjoying.

"Oh, right, yeah.. some of my birthday party leftovers."

"Oh. Happy birthday. How old?" she hoped that didn't come out as rude to him as it did her, but he laughed.

"Twenty-two."

"Oh, well, if I'd had known earlier I'd had brought something," she joked and flashed him a half smile.

He laughed louder. "You want something else or something to drink? Please, help yourself."

"Thank you."

Buffy waited a moment before walking around this strangers kitchen. She grabbed a can of Dr. Pepper once she'd gotten the courage to open the fridge up and looked around to see if there's something she might want to eat.

"I got some stuff in the cabinets and pantry too if you want."

She looked back at him and smiled. "I kind of suck at cooking so I'm thinking something that's not difficult," she admitted then looked back to search more.

Angel came up behind her, lightly moving her out of the way and guided her back to the table and off to a different seat than her previous one where she sat and got it all wet. Then he grabbed the cake and brought it over to her and sat it in front of her.

Buffy looked at him confused.

"Tell me what you want and I'll make it."

"Oh, no, you don't have to do... I wasn't trying..." she was trying to tell him but he cut her off.

"No, no... just let me know what you want."

She saw the look in his face and knew she wouldn't win this one, plus she was starving. "Would it be any... um... any trouble... to make some soup and maybe some grilled cheese sandwiches?" she asked quietly.

"Nope, not at all. What kind of soup do you want?"

"Chicken noodle?"

"You got it," he turned and started looking for his supplies. "You want regular cheese or ham and cheese?" he paused for a second, "or both?"

"One of each?" she said as her stomach growled at the thought, hoping the beautiful man she now knew as Angel didn't hear.

"You got it."

OoOoO.

There had been a few minutes of silence as he made her her requested food. He was making some for himself too.

'She looked amazing,' was his first reaction to the girl's return. 'And is pretty damn funny.' He was also surprised they knew someone in common. Faith of all people at that, though Faith seemed to know everybody in the world so it really shouldn't have surprised him any. "Sorry, I forgot to ask, the clothes okay?" he broke the silence.

"Yeah, they're a little big but it's okay. Thanks again."

"Sorry."

"It's fine... everything you're doing.." he heard a break in her words and looked back at her, his heart breaking as tears started to form.

He walked over to her and bent down in front of her, holding her head in his hands and wiping away the tears as they fell. "Shh, it's okay. You seemed to be in trouble and I just wanted to help."

Tears kept falling as a response.

"Shh, baby please, it's okay." Angel brought her closer to him to hold her, surprised that she didn't fight him. As she continued to cry into him he realized how right this all felt. Like she belonged in his arms. Belonged with him.

"I'm sorry," she finally said with tears still flowing and her head buried in his chest. "You probably think that I'm some insane looney person."

He chuckled and kept rubbing her back and holding her. "Nothing to be sorry about. And I promise I don't find you to be an insane looney person at all." He heard her chuckle to and slowly lifted her so he could look into those gorgeous eyes once again. "Now that's more like it," he said with his trademarked half smile. The food he was cooking began to pop. "I'll be right back," he said and got up to check on it.

OoOoO

Buffy was embarrassed about crying in front of and on this guy, and for, well actually, the whole thing. She felt her insides turn to mush though while he held her, called her baby, soothed her and made her laugh. She wiped her eyes. "When's the last time you heard from Faith?"

"Oh, wow, I don't know. Six months ago? Maybe more."

"Oh," she said sadly.

"Were or are you, uh, looking for her?"

"No, not exactly. She moved to Sunnydale a few years ago... she came to LA a lot still, I just thought she might be around was all, but wasn't technically looking for her."

"So... you're not from here?"

"No... I'm not."

"I haven't seen her, like I said, but I can maybe find her for you if you decide you do need her or something."

"Thanks... that...that'd be great."

He was silent for a few minutes then came back to the table with food. First he brought the two bowls of soup then the plates of sandwiches, then came back with some napkins, a glass of water and a new can of Dr. Pepper for her.

"Thanks so much again, Angel."

He smiled at her, "You're welcome."

"Buffy. My name is Buffy, Buffy Summers." She'd only now realized she hadn't told him her name.

"Well, you're very welcome Miss Buffy Summers."

She smiled and they began to eat.

OoOoO

Buffy had still been jumpy from the thunder booms but not as bad as she usually would have been. And anytime she gave a small embarrassing yelp or jump Angel would hold her hand and smile at her for a few minutes. 'He feels so safe,' she thought.

Buffy began looking around and noticed her rain soaked bags. "Oh, god!"

He looked at her worried. "What? What happened?"

She pointed down at the bags. "I got everything wet! Your car, your floor, your furniture. God, I am so, so sorry!"

"Buffy, baby, it's okay. It's water, it dries. I am sorry if any of your things got ruined though."

'He probably wonders about all of this..' she debated for a few minutes on whether or not to tell him. "I um.. ran away from home.."

His eyes looked sympathetic, true, and warm. "I was wondering about that. Wanna talk about it?"

She brought on of her legs up onto the chair, folded it so she could lean her chin onto her knee. She bit her lip so she didn't cry again in front of him before gathering herself enough. "A lot of things... they kind of... it was bad." 'Wow. Lame, stupid girl, that's what I am.' "I um... I had a fight with a friend of mine. My best friend actually. Her name's Willow. That was the emotional and with words one, not the bruise causing one that I'm sure you noticed the aftermath of."

Angel nodded sadly.

"No... that was from my step-dad." She saw a flash of anger in his eyes. "His name's Ethan. He um... it wasn't the first time.. or twentieth either. But... I just had to get away. My mom... she um... passed away about two years ago and my dad's not really in the picture and hasn't been for some time now. Ethan's kind of what was left. Lucky me," she said that bitterly and the tears started to fall. "I was afraid he was going to... do something... more... you know... so I just ran. I didn't know where to go, I was going to go to my friends but I felt... ashamed? Then I thought of Giles... that's um Mister Giles, he's a librarian and a actually a really good friend, but then I remembered he wasn't in the country. He'd left for an emergency back home... home for him is England.. so..." the tears kept coming.

Angel got out of his seat and came to her and held her once more.

"I just ran and ran. Sunnydale's a small town... I was just so confused. After I felt he might have gone to sleep... I um.. I sneaked back in and just grabbed things then I ran again. I went to the bus station. I'm old enough but I don't drive so I couldn't do that, so a bus was my next choice. I didn't know where to go, I've hardly ever even been out of Sunnydale. I've came here a fair share amount of times and there was a bus leaving soon so I just got on it," she made it out, though it took forever with trying to tell it between sobs. "I was so scared, I still am. I don't know what to do. I got off the bus and didn't know... I was lost... I know a few people here but didn't know how to get to them, reach them, anything. It was stupid of me to come here but I realized that a little too late. I found a hotel and stayed and I didn't leave for a few days but then I didn't want to waste what money I had brought with me, so I left. I was so lost, Angel. I stayed on the trains and buses, trying to stay hidden and away from scary people. Tonight some guys chased me and I ended up here after running and running. I took a cab but still kept running. I didn't know..." she couldn't say anymore, the sobs became violent and she shook so much it hurt.

Angel continued to hold her the whole time and she held right back like he was the only thing to keep her from dying. He'd stayed silent through the whole thing, but now he was whispering how he'd take care of her, wasn't going to hurt her, that it was okay and anything he could think of to try and help.

It took a long time and some deep breaths for Buffy to calm back down.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

"No," she whispered and silently continued to cry.

The next thing she knew, he was lifting her out of the chair and into his arms once more. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck tighter, not caring where the hell he was taking her, just as long as it was him with her.

OoOoO

They moved through the house easily, he turned off lights as he continued to his destination. 'Wherever that is' she thought. She didn't really care though, she just hugged her body to his tighter and pushed her head down into his neck.

She heard a door open and a light turned on.

"Buffy?" he asked softly.

'Don't leave me,' she thought in a panic. "No," she said as she clutched him tighter.

"Baby, I just thought you might want to lay down in here..."

"I...I do.." she said then whispered with tears once again forming "I.. I just... I don't want you to go..."

"Oh." Angel flicked the light back off, turned around and started walking again. After a few short moments he once again opened a door and turned a light on. He closed the door with his foot, walked over and turned on a lamp, walked back over and flicked the main light off, then walked over to the bed where he laid her down on. Never taking his hands off of her as he put her down and into the covers then lowered himself in too. "This okay?" he asked quietly then began taking off his shirt but keeping one hand on her the whole time.

"Yes."

Angel reached over and turned off the light and scooted down into the covers and then grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. She grabbed his arms and pulled them away and he started to apologized but she didn't let him finish as she turned over to face him and let his arms fall and she snuggled close. He then again wrapped his arms tighter around her tiny body.

'This is where I belong. Where I always have,' she thought happily as she fell asleep to his beating heart.

Angel listened to this Buffy Summers girl's breathing, taking in her smell and how her body felt against his.

Soon, he too fell asleep.


	2. Chapter Two

When Buffy started to wake up, she found a set of strong arms holding her and a strong, very hard body pressed against her. She blinked her eyes a few more time feeling amazed at the sight before her. 'He truly must be an angel,' she thought while looking his sleeping form over.

She needed to use the rest room so started to try wiggling her way out from him but every time she did he would just pull him closer to him in his sleep. "Angel!" she giggled softly. "I have to go to the bathroom!"

He mumbled something that she couldn't hear and loosened his grip on her. She got up and started trying to remember her way back to the bathroom.

Eventually, she found it and hurried back to the bed once she was done, finding that Angel had woken up and was climbing out when she returned. "Hey," he greeted with a sleepy smile.

"Hi," she replied quietly.

"You sleep alright?"

Buffy nodded shyly. "Yeah.. thanks.. you know... for everything.."

He smiled. "None needed. I'm going to go take a quick shower. You can too or use the tub or whatever, or go back to sleep too if you want. I'll make us some breakfast when I get out... that sound good?"

"Yes. Than-thank you."

"Anything in particular you want this morning?"

"Um... anything's fine," she said and hurried back out and back to the bathroom she'd just left. She could fell tears stinging her eyes, overcome by his generosity.

He was a blessing. One long overdue.

OoOoO

Buffy stepped out of his borrowed clothes and into the tub, still trying to get a grip, but it was hard. She missed her mother. She missed her friends. She missed the small comforts of home. But then she would think of what happened before she left, all that pushed her to leave. And finally she thought of what this past week had been like. The good, the bad, the scared times. All those unsure feelings. And now.. she was here. Not sure why or how it all happened.

She didn't know how long this was going to last... but she appreciated it while it did.

OoOoO

Buffy dried off and put his clothes back on and wondered what she was going to do about a clothing supply. Most of her things were probably still soaked from the night before she figured.

She walked into the kitchen to find Angel at the stove. He didn't have a shirt on and she could see his tattoo and she had the strange urge to want to go trace it over with her fingers and tongue and anything else she could think of. But, she repressed it.

Barely.

"Smells good," she said softly after a moment of watching him.

He turned around and gave her a half smile. "Thanks. You can sit if you want." he told her and she did. "Hope you're hungry."

And she was. In the tub she'd smelled the aroma seeping through, making her stomach growl.

Angel had cooked them toast, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and some biscuits and gravy. Which all tasted like heaven. She couldn't get enough.

OoOoO

They'd been eating in silence and it looked like Angel was about to say something to her but then the phone rang. He smiled and excused himself to go grab it.

He knew full well who it was calling him. "Hey Ma," he said answering it. He'd forgotten about his birthday plans until right now.

OoOoO

"Sorry about that," he said sitting back down.

Buffy swallowed then smiled. "It's okay."

There was a silent pause for a moment. "I have to go to my parents later... a family birthday thing is being thrown and..."

Buffy felt her stomach drop. She knew it was going to happen, knew it was a miracle this much had happened for her, yet it stung. "It's okay," she managed to get out, "I mean, I do appreciate everything you've done when you really didn't have to and..."

Angel's mouth snapped shut when she started talking and he wrinkled his forehead in confusion until he finally got it with the more she spoke. "Oh, no no no Buffy," he threw in quickly, "I'm not asking you to leave."

"You're not?" she asked quietly.

"No, of course not. I wanted to see if you wanted to come... or you can stay here if you want. I just wanted to see which you'd be more comfortable with."

The tears she'd been holding back broke free right then and they fell harder as he was up and over to her, cradling her in his arms again in record speed.

"Shh, Buffy, baby. It's okay."

She wrapped herself tightly around him, as if he was the last thing she had in the world.

When Buffy finally calmed down, Angel pulled away from her a little to look at her, reaching up to wipe away the last of her tears. "You okay?"

"Yes," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "I'm sorry I'm being a big baby here," she giggled some, "It's just.. you.. you're being so nice and I just don't deserve it and I don't know how..."

"You deserve this and so much more," he cut her off.

OoOoO

Buffy declined the offer to go to the party. She did want to, but she was afraid of one, meeting his family and probably close friends, and two, she was still showing various reminders of her home life that she was ashamed of. And Angel's family probably didn't need to see them.

She couldn't believe he was letting her stay, she believed that much less than the offer to join him, letting her stay in his beautiful house all alone was insane. 'He doesn't even know me. How can he be so.. so...' she wondered, looking over at where he was now, washing the dishes. She offered and tried to help but he wasn't having any of it.

Buffy's eyes went from him and then down to where her stuff still laid out and she sighed. "Angel?" she asked, her voice still soft and was fully of regret already.

"Hmm?"

"Um.. I don't want to be a bother or anything... but um... would it be okay if I used your washer and dryer for my clothes? I mean, if not... I completely understand and I shouldn't have even asked and..."

"Buffy. Shush. Yes, you can use the washer and dryer. You can use anything you want or need to here alright?"

Buffy looked back at him, those deep brown eyes staring back at her. She nodded shyly.

"Good. Now if there's anything else you need, clothing, food, shoes... whatever... we can go shopping, I can go out for you if you wish, though I wouldn't fully recommend that plan, or well, you can always order stuff online if you want. Just let me know alright?"

Buffy nodded again. "I think I'm o...okay for now. Thank you."

He waved it off. "Just trying to help."

Buffy slowly stood up and went and hugged him before she knew what she was doing. When it came back to her, she blushed then said she was going to start up a load and hurried to grab her things.

Angel just smiled and watched her go.

OoOoO

Buffy finished getting the washer set up then looked around before sneaking through the house, wandering about, looking at everything and all the rooms. She was in the living room, running her hands over his books and movies when Angel came in to join her. "Hey."

Buffy spun around quickly. "Hi! Sorry... I was just looking."

Angel held up his hand. "It's okay. Anything you wanna watch?"

Buffy bite her lip then turned back, looking over some of the titles. She hesitantly brought her hand up and picked one out then looked back at him.

Angel smiled and grabbed it from her, looking it over for a second before going to pop it in. "I would offer popcorn, but I'm fairly sure I'm out for the last time my sister was over," he sat down, patting a seat for her next to him, "This is her favorite movie."

Buffy smiled. "Mine too."

And so, for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, the two of them spent the time watching various movies and talking, mostly about Angel this go around since Buffy didn't really seem up to talking about herself or her life at the moment. Angel didn't push it, besides, he figured letting her get to know him better was a good idea anyway given the situation.

OoOoO

When the time came to get ready to go see his family, Angel reluctantly got up from the couch just as their latest movie had ended. "I'm going to go change.. is there anything you need before I go?"

Buffy thought for a second then shook her head. "You don't have to let me stay, you know," her voice returned to it's quiet tone.

"Yes, I do," he smiled, "You sure you don't need anything?"

She nodded again.

"Alright," he looked her over for a moment then turned to go down the hall.

OoOoO

"Shit," Buffy heard Angel curse from the down the hall, her head whipped around just in time to see him rushing in and over to the phone. "I forgot to call Spike," he said, grabbing at the phone. 

She didn't know what that meant.

He was fixing his shirt as he waited for someone to pick up. "Shit," he breathed then paused to listen to the machine, "Spike, it's Angel, call me back when you get this," he said then sat the phone back down. "Sorry," he smiled and looked back at Buffy.

"Um? That's okay?"

"I forgot to call him earlier about Faith for you."

"Oh. No, that's okay," she smiled.

"Shit. Shoes," he ran back down the hall then came to put them on beside her on the couch. "Alright, there's movies, books, games.. whatever around if you want to find something to do. If you're hungry feel free. I'll bring back something from my parents or stop by McDonald's or something if you want?"

"Either's fine."

He grabbed for a piece of paper and pen, "You need anything, this is my cell and this is the number to my parents house. You sure you don't need anything?"

"Yes," she laughed. "I think you're going to be late," she pointed at the clock.

"Shit. I always am. Alright, need anything, call. Lock the door behind me alright?"

She nodded and stood to follow him to the door.

"Please don't leave," he said turning back to face her.

She was in shock for a minute, those eyes pleading with her and velvet voice filled with the same. "I won't," she choked out finally.

"Please," he said again before opening the door. He gave her one last look then closed it and left.

Buffy breathed and locked it like he asked. She ran over to the window and watched as he climbed into one of his other cars and watched him leave. She stared out of the window for a few more minutes then slowly walked away, looking around the house carefully.

Buffy went to laid the remote down on the coffee table then went back down the hall, she returned to shyly looking through his rooms, getting a better in depth search this time.

She found plenty of interesting things around the house. There were books all over the place. There was his school books, notebooks, scrapbooks, photo albums, yearbooks, books of poetry and plays... and so forth. She was starting to wonder if he stole a library or something. He had wonderful paintings on the walls, along with some pictures of him and, she assumed, his family. There were also a few more boxes of scattered pictures in his closest as well. She looked through his wide variety of clothing, the man had a few dozen to fit any type of situation almost. She found his scattered bills, her eyes bugling at some of the amounts.

Buffy looked through his bathroom, mentally noting the brands as she smelled different products and just randomly looked through everything in there. Buffy rummaged through desk drawers, cabinets and more. She laughed when she found a stack of Playboy's and Hustler magazines.

She felt jealousy stab through her as she stumbled across things obviously belonging to a female in a few places around his bedroom. She wondered what that was about. And who the hell this lady was, where she was and why in the world was she hanging around 'her' Angel.

But Buffy's greatest find had her eyes back bulging out and a need rushing through her as she located a nice collection of condoms and then on to some various sex toys. Her face burned red as she stared down at them and became even hotter as her fingers slowly slid down to run her fingers and hands along some of the items.

She was starting to get deep into a fantasy about what Angel might do to her with some of these things when she faintly heard a ringing. It took her a moment to snap out of it and realize it was the phone. She panicked and quickly covered everything back up and went flying back down the hall.

When she reached the phone, she grabbed at it but never touched it, feeling unsure if she was supposed to answer it or not. Instead, she stood in front of it and waited for the machine to pick up. "Bugger. Call me back."

Buffy blinked for a moment then laughed. It was short lived though as it turned into a shriek as she heard tonight's first bit of thunder.

OoOoO

Angel was all but flying out the door as soon as he realized that it was storming outside. He hurried to grab up his things, thanked everyone for coming out and quickly let them know he had to get out of here. As quickly as possible.

"Angel? Is everything alright?"

"Shit. Yeah, everything is fine. Thanks again everyone. I'll come back by tomorrow okay Ma?" he said then kissed her cheek quickly, said goodbye to a few people on his way toward the door, then ran out into the rain to his car. He flipped his phone open and waited for an answer as he sped down the highway, cursing non-stop the whole way.

OoOoO

Angel slammed the car into park and hurried to grab the keys and his flashlight as he jumped back out of the car and ran toward the dark house that put a sinking pit feeling into his stomach as it loomed before him.

"Buffy?" he started calling out as soon as he stepped inside, worried about her, worried if she were even still here and if she weren't... "Buffy?" He couldn't find her anywhere in the living room or dining room as he made his way toward the kitchen to grab up a few more supplies. He didn't find her in there either.

He grabbed up his things and started making his way further back into the house, checking every room and calling out for her. But it wasn't until he reached his bedroom that he found her.

She looked like a mess as she hid curled up in the corner of his closet. It had his heart lurching as he took a seat beside her and pulled her into his arms and she clutched onto him for dear life, choking out a few sorries that he had to hush.

"I ruined your party," she whispered against him and he smiled, his hands stroking her back lightly.

"It wasn't that interesting to begin with," he whispered back.

Buffy buried her head further into his neck and scooter even closer to him, making him close his eyes tightly and bit his lip to try and control himself as she straddled him, her body unconsciously slowly rocking on top of him ever so slightly. "I was... I was standing out by the phone, someone left a message, then suddenly it started lightening and thundering. I didn't... know... what to d..do.. I just hid in here... soon the lights were out and..."

Angel pulled her even closer and whispered that everything was going to be okay a few more times before deciding to lift them both up and go climb into the bed. He laid her down and covered her up then sat down to take his shoes off, one hand never leaving her, then climbed under himself, pulling her small frame back against his. He tried to occupy her mind with asking her a few more questions about herself, offering bits of himself along the way as well, and just trying to think of anything else that he could. Luckily, for the most part it worked too. And it wasn't long before they were both fast asleep still tangled in one another's arms.

OoOoO

The lights came back on in the middle of the night, waking them both back up. For Angel, Buffy laughing at his groaning was what really did it though. He uncovered his head back up and mock glared at her, only causing her to laugh harder. He made some ungodly noise then took a few tries at sitting up. "You hungry or anything? I didn't get a chance to get you anything earlier, sorry."

She bowed her head and shook it no. Honestly she was, but she didn't want him to have to get up. It was the middle of the night and he was already doing far too much. Unfortunately, her stomach had a mind of it's own and rumbled without permission and Angel took his turn to laugh.

"Wait right here," he said with a yawn as he started pulling himself up out of the bed but Buffy's tiny hand wrapped the best it could around his arm before he could.

"You really don't have to Angel really, I'm fine," she told him as his head turned around to look at her.

And he could see it all in her eyes, making him feel just as he had before all over again. He gave her a smile then reached up to brush a few strands of her very messed up hair out of her face. Then, without any warning, he cupped her cheek as his body leaned closer to her, his head bending down to hers, dropping a light kiss on her perfectly pouted lips.

And before she even knew what was going on, it was over as he pulled away.

For a moment he just stared into her eyes, looking for the answers to what he couldn't make himself ask right then, then dropped another quick kiss on her before getting up to go make them something, leaving Buffy wide eyed on the bed with her heart beating completely out of control, still unsure as to what happened but craving more.

OoOoO

Angel let out a deep breath then immediately started mentally cursing himself for what he'd just done. And he spent the entire time cooking continuing to yell at himself, hoping he didn't just royal screw everything up. All because he couldn't keep his damn hands to himself. She was already a lost and very scared young girl who'd already had enough happen to her in this life, he really didn't want to make it any worse by seemingly taking advantage of the situation.

He knew that he was beyond attracted to her but acting on that was never part of the plan. He did honestly want to help her, now was afraid he just ruined that chance and worried what would happen to her.

OoOoO

Angel sighed and stood outside of the door, tray in hand, trying to calm his panicking nerves. He slowly opened the door and stuck his head in, giving Buffy a hurried smile as her head popped up and she bit her lip as she watched him enter.

Buffy cast her eyes back down and watched her hands nervously move about in her lap for a moment before looking back up as he sat the tray down on the bed in front of her. "Angel," she softly began, her voice coming out a little shaky, "you really didn't have to go to so much trouble," she told him, looking over everything he'd brought in.

Angel gave her a half smile and shrugged, he grabbed his glass of juice and came around the bed and sat down.

She tipped her head slightly toward him, "Thank you though." Her head bowed some once again and she reached her hand out to the tray.

"You're more than welcome," he replied and the two quietly began eating the small meal. About half way through, he finally muster up the courage to say anything. "Um... Buffy... about... earlier..."

Her head popped back up and her eyes went wide, a light blush starting to form. "Uh huh?" she almost squeaked out.

"I just wanted to say I was sorry. I honestly didn't mean for that to happen. And I completely understand if..." Angel paused as he watched her expression change. "Buffy?"

"Did I do something wrong?"

Angel stared at her for a moment. "What? No. Of course not. Why in the world would you think that?"

Buffy looked at him under her eyelashes but didn't say anything.

"Buffy?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking back down at her hands.

Angel narrowed his eyes, trying to figure this out. It wasn't working. He scooted over closer to her and lifted her chin up. "Hey," he whispered gently, his thumb brushing softly against her skin, "what's going on here?"

Buffy swallowed and tried to look anywhere but his eyes, he just kept searching them out. "I'm sorry. I..I haven't da-dated much and don't ha-have a lot of exper-experience.. and nothing re-really went well then either..."

Angel sat there confused for a long moment before it hit him and his eyes widened. 'Shit.' He started shaking his head. "Buffy, you didn't do anything wrong, nothing at all. The kiss was perfect, the kisses were perfect.  _You're_  perfect _._  That wasn't what I meant at all." Angel sighed and scooted a little closer to her again. "I just... I don't want you to think I'm trying to take advantage of you or give the impression that I expect something from you or whatever."

This time Buffy shook her head. "I don't think that at all."

"Maybe not now, not today but..."

Buffy shook her head again and he sighed, unsure of what to say or do.

After sitting there in silence for a moment, Buffy forced herself up to her knees and came even closer to him. She swung one leg over him and slowly lowered herself down to his lap. She could feel her heart racing and her hands were shaking as well, but she slowly pushed her body against him, her hand snaking around to the back of his head.

Angel stared into her eyes for a moment. He could see the mixture of her trying to be brave and her fear clearly in them. "Buffy?" he whispered, her face only an inch away from his.

Her eyes closed and as her lips pressed softly against his. Buffy slowly lifted her head and it wasn't hard to tell how nervous she was. Angel lifted his hands up from the bed and pulled her back down to him throwing caution to the wind. As she got over the small shock, he let her take back control of the kiss. He let her take her time to get comfortable, happily let her gain access as her tongue slid out across the seam of his lips, and he let her explore to her hearts desire.

When Buffy pushed him down flat to the bed, deepening the kiss, her hands becoming more familiar with him as well and he felt himself losing control. He gripped at her hips and forced her to sit back up, which wasn't exactly all that better either. "I think you're food is going to get cold," he panted out.

Buffy blinked, how could she care about food when she had this?

She shifted some, feeling something pressing against her. She watched his eyes roll back in his head and he groaned, she felt herself blush as she realized what that something was. She also felt a bit of an accomplishment though. Buffy smiled nervously at him. "Right, okay," she said and slowly began sliding off of him. She smiled to herself more as he groaned again.

Angel sat up slowly a moment later, he leaned over to kiss her then whispered he'd be back. She looked at him puzzled for a moment, watching him stand up. Her eyes widened though as he walked into his bathroom.

"Oh, my God," she whispered to herself, her face bright red, as she heard him flick the water on after closing the door.

She stared at it for a moment the forced herself to look away. She picked up her fork and tried not to think about him, what he was doing in there and why.

It sure as hell wasn't easy though.


	3. Chapter Three

"Well, if you do hear from her just let me know okay?" Angel barely had time to finish before he caught the sight of Buffy out of the corner of his eye. He could help the heartfelt sigh that came from his lips or the smile that took over his face. It'd taken every ounce of his strength to pull himself out from beside her in bed this morning. "Yeah, bye," he breathed into the phone before hanging up.

He didn't have a clue what Spike just mumbled about.

"Hi," Buffy said shyly, still half hiding in the hallway.

"Good morning," he rumbled, his eyes drinking her in slowly.

Buffy blushed under his heated gaze, and because of certain memories of the night before swirling in her mind. "M...morning."

"I hope I didn't wake you," he pointed at his dropped phone.

Buffy shook her head. "No, least I don't think so," she answered quietly. "But I did hear you talking a few minutes ago so I thought I would come see... I, um, I think I'm going to go take a quick shower. If that's alright anyway..."

He looked her over for another minute then sighed, next strode across the room in a few quick strides to stand before her. Angel's hand lifted to cup her cheek then lowered his head to brush his lips against hers. "Stop doing that," he whispered before kissing her once more. "Enjoy your shower. I'll make breakfast."

"O...Okay."

OoOoO

Buffy knew it was beyond silly but she thought she was about to burst into a river of tears again.

Without ever bringing any attention to her, their eyes had locked as she stood back in the shadows of the room once more. A message came through loud and clear through that gaze.

He continued, subtly making her aware that they were not alone and made sure to slide in who it was that had decided to intrude while she'd been off in her morning shower. He left the rest up to her, if she wanted to slink back away or to come out and make herself known it was up to her.

He was still protecting her, in ways she would have never dreamed.

Their eyes met once more and Buffy gave him a weary smile, deciding then, in the moment what she was going to do. Trying to cover up her face the best she could with her hair, Buffy took a deep breath then forced herself to take that first step forward.

"Well, Angel, you had me worried! You can't blame me for that. You just went running out of the house like it was on fire!"

Buffy paused, guilt seeping through her, but Angel gave a quick look of reassurance her way, and even, once again, made sure to distract the older

woman in case she was going to need the chance to slip away again. She didn't though, instead she repeated her actions, taking a deep breath then forcing another foot forward.

"Hello again," Angel finally spoke to her, when he felt it was the right time. "I hope you had a nice shower," he smiled. "My mother decided to come over and surprise me this morning," he nodded her way.

Buffy did her best to smile as the woman's head spun around quickly. She looked down though when she heard the gasp.

"Mom, this is my... my... this is Buffy Summers. Buffy, this is my mother, Catherine O'Connor," he went with the introductions as he moved closer to his scared little blonde, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.

"My heavens," Catherine said, standing from her chair, "Are you alright, dear?" she asked, clearly worried. "What on earth happened?" she asked with wide eyes, now directed at her son.

"Ma, not now," he said softly, leaning his head against Buffy's. His thumb started making soothing circles over her stomach under her shirt. "It is being take care of though so don't worry."

Buffy felt this was up there on her dumb mistakes list, coming out here, revealing herself like this, to Angel's mother of all people. "I...I um... I'm o..okay," she said quietly. "I just... had some..."

Feeling her tensing up despite his efforts, Angel brushed her hair out of her face then kissed her cheek. "It's okay," he whispered. "You're okay."

Catherine took a moment to watch the two of them, to take in the young woman, careful not to scare her though. She slowly made her way over to the two of them and lightly reached her hand out to the young girl's face, tipping her chin up to meet her eyes. "Angel will take care of you, don't you worry. You're safe here. And honey, if you need anything, anything at all, you just let us know alright?"

Buffy felt like her dam was about to burst, her throat about to close up. "Th..Thank you," she managed to choke out.

"You're most certainly welcome, sweetheart."

OoOoO

The three of them ate their breakfast together, both members of the O'Connor family doing their best to keep the young girl at ease, though she still sat practically on Angel's lap the whole way through.

When they finished, they talked for a bit then Buffy excused herself, needing a break from everything, leaving Angel and his mother by themselves as she returned to his bedroom.

"It's not my place to tell you," Angel spoke as Buffy disappeared from sight. "If she wants to, or wants me to, then I will but I'm not going to force her nor break her confidence."

Catherine turned her head back from the hallway to her son. "I wasn't going to ask you to," she told him with her eyebrows raised. "I just want to make sure she's okay. And that you know what you're doing."

Angel sighed before trying to explain what had happened, from their meeting the other night onward. Of course skipping over anything too revealing about her situation... or anything too intimate about the two of them.

"She's young, Angel," Catherine said softly, reaching out for his hand.

"I know," he said with another sigh.

"You have feelings for her. Not just white knight hero complex feelings."

"I know."

Catherine was silent for a long while, just sitting there with him, digesting everything. "You could get in serious trouble for this, my son. And I don't just mean in terms of a relationship with her. There's other things to consider as well. She must have someone back there worried about her... friends, family, someone. There could be more to this than you know. And even... if stays here with you... Angel, there's so much to do. What if she gets sick, or if something happens to her? She's still in school, what are you going to do about that? I'm not saying this to hurt you or upset you. I'm not saying this to even steer you away. I just want you to make sure you know what you're getting into."

Angel sat back and closed his eyes, letting this sink in. He honestly hadn't thought so much of a long term plan about these sort of things. "She has no one. I mean, sure she's got her friends, which I hope she contacts and lets them know she's fine but she doesn't have any family, she doesn't have anyone there to take care of her, to protect her. She has nowhere to go. I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't. But I will take care of this and I will make sure she gets everything that she needs."

Catherine leaned over and kissed his temple. "I know you will. And we will all be right here to help you every step along the way. I just needed you to know and to think about it, alright."

He nodded. "We'll figure this out."

"Yes, yes, we will."

They shared a smile.

OoOoO

After saying goodbye to his mother, Angel joined Buffy back in his bedroom. She was curled up in the middle of the bed watching some movie, laughing and smiling. He leaned in the door frame for he didn't know how long just watching her before climbing in beside her and taking her into his arms.

"Buffy," he whispered as the movie came to it's end. "I need to talk to you." She immediately stiffened and he hurried to pull her closer against him, his hands rubbing down her body trying to sooth her. "I just... need to ask you something."

"O..okay."

"How would you feel about staying here?" he asked nervously. "Like... you know, maybe... living here? With me?"

Buffy's eyes went wide as saucers. "Wh...what?"

Angel sighed, reaching for her hand. "I know this is crazy, I do, but I want you to stay. I want you to have a place to call home, to feel safe," he told her softly. "If you aren't comfortable staying here in a more long-term situation then there's plenty of other options," he continued, "I mean, my parents would be glad to have you, some of my friends, we could pick up the pace and find some of your friends, someone you know a little better and might be more comfortable around... hell, I'll even pay out a motel room or get you your own place or whatever you need. I just want to make sure you're taken care of."

"You...you do..don't hav...have to do that," Buffy whispered, her mind reeling over the idea, her heart rate climbing.

Angel brought their entwined hands up to his lips, brushing her knuckles in a light kiss. "I want to."

A single tear ran down Buffy's face as she threw herself into his lap, squeezing her arms around him.

"Is that a yes?" he asked with a chuckle.

Buffy nodded against his chest.

"Okay," he breathed. "Is this... you want to stay here or... somewhere else... or do you need some time to think about it..."

"Here," came her muffled reply. "I want to stay here with you."

Angel smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Alright."

OoOoO

The two spent their day trying to get a better handle on their situation, getting to know one another a little better.

It took some encouragement but Buffy began telling him a little more about herself, her history, telling him stories of her past, both the good times and the not so good times. She told him about her friends, the one's back in Sunnydale and the ones here in LA.

She seemed hesitant but willing to let him find some of her other friends living in the area but closed up whenever he mentioned contacting the others. He wasn't giving up on it but he dropped it for now. Overloading her really didn't seem like the best idea.

He spoke about himself, his life, his friends and a little about his family. Buffy got a kick out of his personal stories, laughing at all the craziness he seemed to get involved with when he was around certain pals. He brought up school, both his and what they were planning to do about her. He explained he had classes tomorrow then had to have a long, soothing talk with the idea of leaving her here and everything. He explained what he was studying, complained a little about the work and some of his teacher, told her his schedule and even wrote it down after giving it some thought just trying to make her feel a little more at ease, and he went on to explain the unknown in which he stood with what he was going to do next.

Neither were sure what they were going to do with her still, but it was nice to throw it out there and get a feel for it. He knew she wouldn't even dream of going until those war wounds from home cleaned up though.

He laid out the option to sign her up at one of the local schools, that if she wanted he'd send her to Cordy's high school or wherever some of her close in age friends were going. He didn't know exactly what he'd need for this to happen but knew it wouldn't be as simple as going in and saying hey, new student and told her that in the gentlest manner he could.

She had run away from home and who knew what was going on back there, there was the fact Ethan was her step-father, her guardian and everything. He explained that his parents could home school her if she wanted that as well, and said more than once that no, she really wouldn't mind and would probably enjoy it. Both he and Cordelia had gone in and out of public school, private and being home schooled so could personally vouch for her teaching abilities, and since she was his mother, brag a little extra too.

There was still bit of an issue, same with the idea of going to a public school with her registration, paperwork and everything but in any event he'd find a way and assured of that.

They mostly lounged around the house. He did manage to talk her into coming out into the backyard for awhile, getting some fresh air and some sunlight to her. She grumbled at first but was happy by the end of it. She was looking pretty longingly at the pool but he couldn't talk her into taking a swim just yet but he knew once she started feeling better they could probably work something out.

When they were inside, they napped, read together or watched some television. Angel didn't have much school work left to do before tomorrow so it hadn't taken him too long to finish. Buffy helped him out when she could and while he was busy she had fussed around with her few belongings.

She'd now been able to sort out all of her clothing, trash what couldn't be saved or she was just sick of seeing and washed and dried everything else, happily planting everything off in the space he gave her for them. Same with some of her other items, throwing away this and that, storing what she managed to save.

She pretty much squealed in delight when he told her to just go ahead and move all of her items from the other bathroom and her new ones into his so she wouldn't have to go tracing off through the house all the time. She spent a long few minutes just smiling happily at the the sight of all the his and hers things in the bright room.

Angel had replaced her trinket box with what he said was one of his sister's to put her jewelry and such in. She tucked away the money she had and other little dohickies. He'd told her his sister wouldn't mind but ended up texting her when Buffy remained reluctant.

When she'd placed Mr Gordo on the bed she'd gotten a raised eyebrow but once she explained what the dear pig meant to her, he said nothing more... but did seem to chuckle and shake his head every time he looked at it.

Buffy knew that she should be acting a little more cautious, about him, this situation she found herself in, but she just didn't. Maybe it would be a good idea to run as far from this guy she honestly didn't know, at least keep her stuff together so she could grab it easily and hit the road if she needed or whatever... but he made her feel safe and like she was home just as he hoped and she couldn't see any reason not to just dive in with it and see where it took her every time she looked at him.


	4. Chapter Four

Buffy missed him. He'd only been gone for a little over an hour and had actually even called to check in on her somewhere around the middle of it but she still missed him.

Sure, they'd only known each other a number of days and he had technically left her alone once before when he'd gone to his parents house for his birthday party but it still sucked.

She'd tried falling back asleep but it seemed impossible without a certain somebody there with her so eventually she just gave up on that idea.

She had been woken up in the first place by the sweet smell of his breakfast cooking skills. That was something she knew she'd never take for granted, that boy could sure good a damn fine meal. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and everywhere in between. It was all yummy goodness.

She'd happily joined him, listening to his plans for the day, asking of hers, what she thought she might occupy her time with when he was away, asking a few times over if she was going to be alright and offering to skip and everything so when the time came she pretty much had to shove him out the door, swearing to him she'd be fine and that she'd still be here when returned.

Now it didn't seem like a such a bad idea, having him skip his day and stay with her.

She'd taken a long bath then read a few chapters of one of Angel's many books then sighed. Bored. And lonely. She was about to pull herself up off the couch and go look over his movies when there was a knock on the door causing her to jump.

She stared at the door, jumping again when there was another knock. She didn't exactly feel all that at home here just yet and she had a lot of demons of her past to worry about and with everything else... but she sucked in a shaky breath and tip-toed toward the front door.

"Buffy?" A woman's voice rang out, along with another knock. "Are you in there?"

Buffy swallowed and reached for the door, opening it slowly. "H..hi," she greeted the familiar looking girl.

The girl smiled. "Are you Buffy?"

She nodded.

"Hi," her smile grew brighter, "I'm Cordelia Chase, Angel's sister. He asked me to come by and spend a few hours with you. If that's alright?"

'Oh,' Buffy thought when she introduced herself. 'That's why she looks so familiar.' "Oh, uh, hi... su..sure, come on in. You didn't have to come babysit me though," she added with a lighter voice.

Cordelia stepped inside and eyed the young girl, abuse and all. "Think of this as more for him than yourself," she said with a laugh. "He said you'd be about my age."

Buffy nodded. "Do..don't you have school to be at?"

Cordy rolled her eyes. "I'm going to get something to drink, you want anything?"

Buffy shook her head. "I still have some of my juice left," she pointed to the coffee table where she had a small glass set up on a coaster.

"Alright," the brunette started walking toward the kitchen. "To answer your question, I do have school but I'm ditching. And before you start getting all worried or whatever, I had two large tests to take that I was nowhere near prepared for so this is a blessing. Trust me."

Buffy chuckled. She knew how that could be.

Cordelia quickly grabbed a diet soda can then poured herself some cereal before coming back toward the living room. Buffy was now nervously perched on the edge of her seat on the couch when she entered.

Smiling, she took a seat herself on the other end. "So, Angel treating you well?"

Buffy smiled shyly. "Ye...yes. He'd been won..wonderful. He's been a bi...big help."

Cordelia gave her a proud smile. "Good. If he wasn't, I'd have to kick his ass." The girls shared a smile. "So... you sure you don't mind me hanging out because I mean, I can leave..."

Buffy shook her head. "No, I mean, if you want to or have something else to do..." she looked down at her hands, "But...but it'd be nice. I was getting kind of lonely," she admitted.

OoOoO

"Angel mentioned you knew or were friends with Faith," Cordy commented, taking her turn as the girls played Mancala. They hadn't been able to find all of the little stones so had to use a few substitutes, mostly little mineral rocks Cordy had tucked away in the room she used whenever she stayed here. Back when she was a little less popular and a tiny bit more nerdy she'd had some weird desire to have the collection of minerals and rocks and whatever.

Angel hadn't let her just toss it, bringing it over here to store some time ago. It did come in handy all these years later though it seemed.

Buffy nodded, watching the stones clink into the little holes as Cordy's hand went around the board. "Yeah, she used to live in Sunnydale and I went to school with her and stuff. Angel said he was pretty good friends with her."

"Yeah, they hung out sometimes. I wouldn't say I was close to her in any capacity though." Cordy's run ended and she watched Buffy bite her lip before deciding which pile to go with. "She kind of just thinks I'm too much of a 'prissy, stuck up bitch' and I happen to think she's a bit too much of a wild card chick for my general liking. No offense to your friendship or whatever."

Buffy chuckled. "None taken. I know what you mean... she can sometimes be a little..."

"Uh huh."

The girls laughed again.

OoOoO

"I'm starved," Cordy said as she stretched, the credits to their movie showing up. "I may not have my brother's fabulous cooking skills but I think I can whip us something up to eat. You hungry?"

Buffy nodded. "I'm not much a cook, as in not at all to be honest, but I can help if I can help in any way..."

Cordy smiled. "C'mon, let's go see what we've got."

OoOoO

"How much did Angel tell you about me anyway?"

"Um, well, not too much I guess. He just told me your name, how old you were, were you went to school... some of your likes and dislikes, favorites and stuff I guess. Told me a few stories," she said with a smile.

"Oh, God," Cordy grumbled, rolling her eyes. "He tell you about how I came to be?" she asked after a moment.

Buffy swallowed, blushed a bit and nodded. Angel hadn't gone into too much detail but he had explained his parents had fallen on some rough times in their relationship many years ago and had filed for separation. During that time his mother had begun a new relationship. It fell through and his parents had ended up getting back together, finding out not too long later that she was pregnant with the other man. Hench Cordelia's different last name.

Angel told her it hadn't been easier on his father until after she'd been born. Then he'd taken to her the second she entered the world, always treating her like she was his own. Her real father wasn't in the picture much, but apparently more than Hank was to her.

"I saw him over the weekend," Cordy spoke after a moment.

"O...oh?"

"I didn't tell Angel or my parents or anyone. I didn't want to ruin Angel's birthday fun or even deal with it."

"Di...did something happen?" Buffy asked softly, noticing a sad look on the brunette's face.

Cordelia blinked back a few tears and apologized for them. "I'm sorry, here I am babbling about my bullshit. I think you've had enough of your own," she chuckled softly.

"No, no, it's okay. I mean... if you want... I can listen," Buffy smiled her way. "Sometimes it's even nice, in a twisted way, knowing someone else has issues too."

Cordy nodded. "I know what you mean." She took a deep breath then sat her chin her palm. "I was with a few friends grabbing a late lunch when I noticed him off in the corner. He was obviously on some date with some bimbo I'd never seen before, not that it's all that surprising really. After watching him for some time, I decided to just go over and say hi, how are you doing or whatever." She paused, dabbing at her eyes. "He just pretended like he'd never seen me before in his life or something. It was awful. I know he's never exactly been the most friendly guy, number one dad or anything but he'd never done something like that."

"I'm sorry."

OoOoO

By the time Angel returned, Cordelia and Buffy had already developed a pretty tight bond. They'd had a fun day overall, learning what they had in common, getting to know one another more. Gossiping about their favorite stars, what they thought would happen when their favorite shows returned for their next season, talked about boys... talked a lot about Angel.

They'd both shared a lot of themselves, surprisingly easily too. And they'd crossed into an even deeper zone after Cordelia had opened up about her father wounds, and Buffy had done the same. She'd told the brunette a few stories, shed some light on her past with both Ethan and Hank that she hadn't even told Angel about yet.

OoOoO

"Hey," Angel greeted the girls, a smile taking over his face as he looked Buffy over. He was relieved she was still here, laughing with his sister and seemingly having a good time. He'd been a nervous wreck the whole time he'd been gone. He'd called a number of times... until Cordy had chewed him out and told him to stop being so overbearing.

"Hi," Buffy said softly.

"Hey, big bro," Cordy greeted. "How was your day?"

"Long." He tossed his belongings to the side and walked toward them. Cordelia was in one of the side chairs and closest to him. He leaned down and kissed her temple. "Thanks for coming by."

"Not a problem."

He patted her head quickly, laughing as she cursed him out for it, then plopped down next to Buffy, his arms wrapping around her tiny waist. "I missed you," he whispered.

Buffy blushed and kissed his nose. "I missed you too."

He smiled. "How'd your girls day go? Did I miss anything interesting?"

OoOoO

Cordelia ended up staying late into the evening with the couple, enjoying herself far too much. She felt drawn to the battered girl, and knew it was mostly but not entirely due to her brother's obvious feelings for her. There was something there... But it was interesting to see Angel's behavior toward and around her.

He'd always been a bleeding heart kind of guy, always trying to help anyone who needed it and everything, but there was a whole lot more when it came to the young blonde he'd taken in. He was completely and utterly taken with her, and she him, and Cordelia doubted they'd even noticed yet how deep it all ran. But she did. And it made her happy.

She wanted Angel to be happy and stop being alone and broody. And this girl obviously needed him, wanted him.

When Angel began dropping hints that he wanted to to leave, she rolled her eyes and muttered out a "Fine." She had to go back toward her bedroom to find her jacket, then came back to the couple. "Well, I guess I should be going now," she told them, a pointed look going out her brother's way.

She went on to tell Buffy to call her if she needed anything, that if tomorrow she wanted to do this again she'd be more, much more willing to skip again, that the blonde was free to borrow any clothes or shoes or whatever else she had laying around and to take care. She hugged the small blonde then her brother, whispering her approval in his ear before pulling back and telling him to take care of himself as well.


	5. Chapter Five

Angel sighed, his eyes, which were currently very tired and becoming increasingly very blurry, drifted over to the side and he smiled as he took in the sleeping girl on the other end of the couch. 

He carefully leaned his body over, lifting the open book from her lap. He quickly glanced over the page she was on then found something to use as a bookmark before placing it on the coffee table along with all the other contributers to the messy pile lain up there. He looked at the two books and the one notebook covering his own lap then shook his head, working to put them away for the time being as well. When he finished, he let out another large sigh, his hands coming up to cover his face, fingers rubbing his eyes.

Buffy had now been living with him for roughly a months time and they still hadn't figured out what to do about that. He'd been meeting with his friend Wesley's father and looking up any information he could find on different options but none were working quite as he'd been hoping.

They two ideas he'd tried to go hard with both weren't exactly working.

Emancipation was out the door almost as soon as he'd brought it up. He'd tried to find loopholes but unless he forged some documents to 'prove' she was financially supporting herself it just wasn't going happen. Him, his family taking care of her wasn't going to cut it. And she wasn't about to go signing up for the military, and even if she were, she was still a year off from being able to join.

Then there was guardianship but it was a whole big mess too. He didn't even have to bring up the suggestion of him being appointed her guardian, no way in hell that was going to happen, too much of a conflict of interest and all if nothing else. For the same reasons he was worried about even bringing his parents up for the idea. But there really wasn't anyone else... and the whole process... well, they both wanted to avoid it if possible... you never knew what could happen.

She could be taken away and put into foster care or sent back to Ethan or who knew what. They did try and come up with a list of possible people up for the task but there weren't many to begin with and none that seemed like a sure thing.

It was incredibly frustrating.

Buffy had been helping, when she wasn't trying to get him to give up on it all, she was looking up information, reading anything she could, trying to come up with solutions. He'd even managed to talk her into contacting both her friend Willow back home and the librarian, Mister Giles, from her old high school who he'd known she was close to.

It took a lot of convincing but she was thankful for his nudging afterward. She refused to contact them more than twice as it were but it was a nice start.

He first and foremost wanted her to have contact with people she cared about and to let them know she was alright. But... he had also wanted to know what was going on back there, if there were any missing persons reports files, any out there news on Ethan... things like that. And also, to plant a seed with them of the notion of this guardianship deal for either Willow's parents or the librarian. She never flat out said anything but she hinted around it.

It was easier to get a feel from Giles of course as it was directly to him but in any event it felt like some kind of progress.

But when she wasn't helping, she was giving up and trying to make him as well. Angel couldn't count the number of times she'd told him they should just wait it out, that she'd been eighteen and free before they knew it.

But she wouldn't. She was sixteen and eighteen was a long way off.

Especially when you looked at it with all of the shit floating around them.

His mother had been 'unofficially' been teaching Buffy, which was another thing she argued as it was one of the big things that kept him going, but he wanted her to have a choice and he wanted it to be legal. He wanted her to have the full benefits of education and right now she wasn't getting it. And if they didn't figure something out soon, she might not have them for the future either.

There was one option, back in the vein of emancipating her, that he wouldn't even dare to consider until recently. Until they were out of ideas and too much time was passing them by. But even it had it's share of issues.

Like how in the world would either of them wrap their minds around the idea of getting married for one.

And there was an issue of having to have Ethan there to consent the union due to her being a minor and all.

He wished California had the same laws on this issue as others, but no, the asshole would actually have to appear which made it even more of a mess. But... Angel was sure he could be rather... persuasive... if he needed to and get Ethan to do exactly everything he said.

But still. It was marriage.

Angel didn't have the slightest clue on how to bring that up with himself let alone someone else. Say, her. Hell, he didn't even know where their 'relationship' stood as it was. He'd been trying to work up courage to approach that idea, of discussing the idea of them being boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever, but apparently he was faced with the idea of skipping that over completely and going straight to until death do them part.

Even if they hadn't discussed it, Angel had begun to think of Buffy as his girlfriend long before now. He'd even referred to her as such, not to her knowledge and never around her, but he had in some cases. Usually if some girl had tried to hit on him he'd politely explain he had a girlfriend. And he'd never felt like he'd said it as just some kind of excuse, it was more than that. To him anyway.

Hell, she lived with him, slept in the same bed with him every single night. He made her breakfast almost every single morning, dinner almost every night. He kissed her, touch her, made her smile and laugh every chance he could. They'd never gone farther than some heavy-ish making out, hands over and under as well the shirt touching, some pelvic rubbings, but that was more than enough one would think.

And many, not only him, did as well.

His family had pretty much accepted her from the second each of them met her, and accepted her as his significant other right after, before he'd even realized he had. His friends pretty much had too.

Buffy had met a number of his good friends and they all adored her and she them. She'd been nervous but they all made sure to make her feel right at home. Which was something she was doing much better with these days. She was completely comfortable, well, maybe a few percentages off of completely but she was getting there, when it came to living here with him, calling this house her home.

She was comfortable around him and still warming up to everyone else. She was more willing to go outside and go out now. She'd been healing nicely and so that had really helped, she'd finally let them go out to dinner a few times, she went clothes shopping with Cordelia, spent a day out with his mom once, they'd gone grocery shopping a time or two. She'd went to a small get-together at Wes' just the other day even.

His family had often referred to them as a couple in their presence, but besides his worry over Buffy's reaction, which was just a hint of blushing, it wasn't any thing more than that. Friends had been more at ease about it, though it had come up in the same manner more than once. Usually, thankfully at it, they'd bring the topic up in private and try and throw in their two cents.

But marriage?

Shaking his head, Angel glanced over at the clock and groaned. It was way too late in the night to be thinking about this. Rash decisions were often made from sleep deprivation.

Carefully Angel stood, yawning on his way up. He stretched, his bones popping in the process. After rolling his neck a few times, he carefully pushed some of the papers and books close to the edge of the coffee table back a bit and took the few steps over to his sleeping beauty.

Reaching down, he easily lifted her into his arms. Buffy mumbled something he couldn't make out as she snuggled closer to him, her hand clutching the front of his shirt, her head falling forward on his chest until she found a comfortable spot. He couldn't help but smile at the picture she made.

He carefully moved through the house, turning off any lights still on as he went, making sure to leave the hall light on though so he could see.

When he reached the bedroom, Angel lead them to the bed, moving as little as he possible could as he pulled the covers back then laid her down gently. He frowned looking her outfit over, it wasn't exactly sleep attire, but he didn't think changing her into something more comfortable was the best of ideas. He did make sure she'd taken the boots she'd been wearing earlier in the day off though before covering her back up.

He began undressing as he headed for the bathroom, his shirt landing on the floor somewhere before he crossed inside, closing the room before turning on the lights so they wouldn't pour in on her waking her up or something. He used the bathroom quickly, undressed then washed his face and brushed his teeth. He was about to go back out when he decided to take a shower. He was dead tired but he felt he could use it.

The second he'd stepped under the almost too hot falling water he knew he'd made a right choice. It felt good. He wasn't doing well with the relaxing so much these days so this was pretty much heaven. He could feel his muscles and joints loosing up under the warmth, his headache clearing, thoughts temporarily taking leave from his mind.

When he finished, his body was buzzing with the numbness of wanting to sleep. He reached for a towel and quickly dried off. His hand went up to his face again as he yawned, feeling his stubble scratching him. He looked toward his shaving cream and razor but quickly shook off that idea. Slipping on his boxers, Angel turned the light back off then entered back into the bedroom, climbing into bed and wrapping his arms around the still-sleeping blonde.

He heard her breathe out his name as she cuddled closer to him once more. Angel's arms held her just a bit tighter and he kissed her cheek before burying his nose down into the curve of her neck, breathing her in. He closed his eyes thinking how blessed he was to have this young girl in his life, how he knew he'd do anything in this world to keep her, to protect her, how he wanted to have her in his arms every night from now on.

"Love you, Buffy," he murmured tiredly. He was already slipping under, into the welcoming darkness.

The last thought Angel could remember having before sleep overtook him was an image of the said blonde standing next to him in a beautiful white gown vowing to be his through sickness and in health.

OoOoO

Buffy had overheard him discussing his plans with his parents several days ago so when Angel did finally bring up the marriage idea, not having found any other solution, she was happy to have at least some advantages. Like the fact that it didn't take her by surprise... well, it did... but not as much as it would have had she not had any indication beforehand.

Him going through with it was hard to wrap her head around but things could have been worse. She'd had time to think about, come up with her answer.

Buffy sat silently on the edge of the bed as he spoke. She thought he was handling things well. He was quite nervous though, his body language spoke of that loud and clear, his words sometimes rushing together. It wasn't exactly her ideal proposal or anything, no cheesy romantic moves, candlelight and stars or anything. No down on one knee. But he was doing well, considering.

And hell, it was Angel. Yum.

Trying not to rush, he laid it out. Cautious every step of the way, like he expected her to go mental on him.

Had she not have had prior knowledge, Buffy was sure that would have been the case.

She'd already heard some of it, from the parental conversation, how this would work, what it meant, what they'd need to do. Stressing how much he wanted to do this for her.

It wasn't real, but Buffy found herself dozing off a bit, pretending. Just for a moment or two.

"Buffy?"

She blinked her eyes, looked down at her hand now encased with his. Looks like she'd taken the wrong moment there to fantasize. 

Buffy looked at him, stared into his eyes until she no longer could, then down to the floor. She took a breath then went into her own speech, telling him this wasn't the answer. She couldn't ask him this, to give up something like this. Not for her.

When he tried to protest, she ignored him, charging on. The majority of her answer came from that vein of reasons, then generalized about the concept of love and of marriage, ending with the fact she knew the dangers of trying to involve Ethan, which they both knew would have to be dealt with. She was strong, held together, her voice calm but on the inside she felt something tugging at her so hard she wondered how she was able to keep breathing. Her mind was racing now too, wondering how much damage this would do them.

"I love you."

Her head snapped back up, her hand pulling away from him. "Don't do that."

"I love you," he repeated.

Buffy shook her head.

Angel's arms wrapped around her, pulling her into his lap. His hands lifted under the back of her shirt, resting comfortably while he kissed her hair, her temple. "Buffy," he whispered. "I love you. I want to do this for you, for us. I'm not saying this is the ideal way to go about this but if this wasn't what I wanted then I wouldn't be asking you. If this isn't what you want then I do understand and somehow we will figure something else out, but don't dismiss it for all the wrong reasons. Please."

"It's marriage."

He sighed, kissed her temple again. "I know, and that's a huge thing, especially for someone so young and in this situation but I am asking you."

"Angel..."

Angel tipped her chin up, kissed her. "I want to be with you, Buffy Summers. I want to help you, in any way I can. I want to do this." She started to shake her head but he kissed her again. "It is a lot to ask, just think about it. Please? Just think about it. It can mean whatever you want it to mean, too. It can just be a piece of paper, it can be more, we can make it more. We can just... see what happens. But please, baby. If it's not what you want then we'll come up with something else, but that's the only reason I'm taking no for an answer." He tried to made it sound more joke like but didn't think he pulled it off all that well.

"Angel..."

"I would do anything for you," Angel whispered, holding her closer.

OoOoO

It took three days for her to finally agree.

It was late and the pair were in bed, he was half asleep when she whispered, "I love you, too, Angel."

His eyes popped open and he held his breath.

"Did you mean what you said before?" she asked a few beats later, her voice shaky.

"Yes," he strangled out. "I've meant everything I've ever said to you, Buffy."

Silence, then, "I'm afraid, Angel."

He pulled her tighter against him. "I know, baby. I am, too," he whispered against her ear. "But we can do this. I swear I can make this work if you let me."

"It's too much to ask of you, I just..."

"I'm the one asking, Buffy. Marry me."

More silence.

Angel tilted back, fumbling until he got a lamp turned on then crawled on top of her, holding her head between his hands, staring her down. "Marry me," he repeated, with more emotion than he knew he had built up inside of him about this.

Every time he even thought about the notion it became less a formality and more a pure want.

Angel didn't give her a chance to argue, lower his body lower onto hers, his lips coming down softly to tease against her own.

It built so quickly, Angel was struggling to catch his breath. His body felt like it was on fire, his heart racing out of control. Buffy tasted like heaven and innocence, driving him crazy.

Breaking the kiss, Angel balanced his forehead against hers, panting harshly. He knew he was close, so close, to losing control. Closing his eyes, he focused on trying to calm him breathing before he launched into a second proposal. This time, a better one. One out of nothing but love, want for this girl. It was heartfelt, truer than anything he'd ever said in his life. It scared him, it truly did, but he didn't care.

She was scared too, worried. He knew that. Maybe even more than before. But... with tears in her eyes, she finally said yes.

OoOoO

Buffy woke up in the morning with a ring on her finger. It was large, but not in the tacky fashion. It was beautiful. Perfect.

Angel pulled her closer again from behind, kissing her shoulder, her neck. "Morning, beautiful," he said, voice scratchy and full of sleep.

Buffy blushed, buried her head a little deeper into her pillow. "Hi."

He kissed her shoulder again. "Everything's going to be okay."

She smiled. Maybe it would. Just maybe it would

OoOoO

In the bathroom, Buffy began filling up the bathtub and undressing. She went back over to the sink to grab a brush and a ponytail to keep her hair out of the water while she soaked when she suddenly felt a warmth spread through her and let out a squeal before she could stop herself.

She looked in the mirror and smiled. The fact she was marrying this man hitting her in full force in that moment. She had worries, she had doubts, hell she had questions about how exactly this would work... but she found herself enjoying it. Believing in a maybe.

Something had changed, had struck home with her when he looked at her last night. Like she was his entire world. And the thought came to her that was how she felt about him too. No, they hadn't known each other very long and all of this was completely insane, but it felt right.

Maybe not marriage exactly, but just being with him. Nothing had never felt this way for her before, and she was sure nothing ever would.

They could figure out the rest as they went, she hoped.

OoOoO

Angel was all smiles himself as he worked on their breakfast. He kept trying to make his brain go through the motions, thinking about how to tell everyone, forming a plan of how to handle her step-dad situation, the paper work and so on, but it was difficult.

All he wanted to do was smile and think about how beautiful she was going to be, how he was going to make her dream wedding some true, even in this odd circumstances. Promising himself over and over that he was going to right by that girl, do anything to make her happy and make this work for not only her but for them as well.

The idea had come from their situation but he had meant it, this was what he wanted. She was what he wanted.

OoOoO

Two and a half months later, Buffy stood in front a giant three set of mirrors in her underwear feeling like a giant ball of nerves. To put it lightly.

Just a bit ago, she had become Mrs. Angelus O'Connor.

The first ceremony had been very simple and straight forward. Just as it had been planned. The only people there in the room were the man marrying them, the two of them, Ethan, and his parents.

Angel had insisted she wear white, even then, so she did. Not that she had any issues with the idea her own self. Her hair was slicked back in a neat bun. Some satin ribbons were wrapped around almost to look like headbands, a diamond flower on one side as an accent. Her make-up was very light, as was her jewelry. Her dress to the first ceremony had been quite simple. It was white and flowed straight down without a train. It had spaghetti straps that had very light lacing on them, the top draped just so. Down from the straps to before reaching her breast on each side there were flowery beads, and there was a satin ribbon wrapped around under her bust in a very light lavender with a hint of gray color. Her shoes were very simple, opened white high heels.

Buffy shook as she stood beside Angel. From everything. What they were doing, Ethan being there, everything.

Ethan being there was all Angel's doing. He, Gunn and Wesley had went to Sunnydale to tell him of the plans to marry and ordered the older man to walk the line about it. He was to sign his consent, show up and verbally do so, and then he was to remain out of their lives from that point on. Angel and the boys made it very clear on what would happen to him if he would not comply.

So he came, kept his distance, and did exactly as he had been told through the wedding. The vows were kept straight forward, no added tricks during the entire thing, and before they knew it... they were kissing and being pronounced as husband and wife. After it was over, Buffy watched Ethan being removed from the building, and her life for good. His eyes had bore into hers as he passed her, four men helping him find the exit, and it had shaken her to the core. But once Angel came back and talked with her, she was good as new. She was safe, she knew it then.

They spent some time together out in the main area of the building then they got down to business.

Angel was led off by his friends, and Cordelia and Catherine came to grab her and rush her upstairs to another room. Angel had insisted also that she get a real wedding. So now she was in here preparing for the second ceremony.

He refused to let this be just a walk into a court room and say some I do's type of situation if he could help it. Refused to let Buffy's wedding day be dampered by her abusive step-father. So he had set it up for her to have the private one, then a more dream-like fantasy wedding that she could choose.

And now, as she began slipping into her "real" dress, for some reason Buffy found herself even more nervous.

OoOoO

For the second ceremony, they had it in a real ballroom type area in the building. It was set up beautifully. There were candles and flowers everywhere, beautiful lights. This time there were more to witness the event, mostly friends and family from Angel's side but Buffy two best friends from Sunnydale, Willow and Xander, had managed to make it out as well.

The second dress was white and more in the ball gown type feel. It had a sweetheart neckline and a beautiful medium sized embellished waistband between the bottom of her breasts and her waist. The skirt to it was ruffled and lacey, without being overly extreme. It went in waves and twists, and didn't stick out to make her look like a cupcake either. Which she liked very much. The train was a decent size, smaller even. Nothing for anyone to trip over really. Another plus.

Her hair was let down and brushed before reassembled. She pushed a line of it back into a clip and the rest hung freely with a slight curl. Very light glitter was sprinkled through her golden locks. She had bought a veil but decided against it. Her make-up was just slightly altered and she switched out her earrings for a new pair.

Angel had also changed from a very nice suit to a tuxedo. She had found him more handsome than ever as she stepped out into the room, everyone standing and turning, all eyes on her.

The only eyes she cared about though were his.

She didn't think it was possible to see more want in those chocolate orbs than he had the first sighting of her in the other dress, but here he proved her so very wrong. Suddenly, she felt like the most beautiful woman on the planet as he stared.

The second ceremony was just the two of them again, no flower girls, groomsmen or anything. But she didn't mind. Everyone who mattered were there and she liked having the 'stage' all to their own selves.

Vows were said again, this time having them just a bit more personal. They also added a sand portion to this ceremony. And an actual exchanging of rings.

And before long, again they kissed and were pronounced as a Mister and Missus.

OoOoO

After the second gathering, there was also a reception held in the basement.

Angel held her hand as they walked down, randomly spinning her around or kissing her along the way. And the entire time down there, he continued doing similar things. It was like his hands never left her the entire time.

They cut the cake, smeared it all over one another, and toasted... only using apple juice instead given Buffy's age.

They had snacks set up and randomly picked at those, guests grabbed some as well and some favors on a table in the corner. No one officially had the floor for speeches but it seemed almost like a few were said, but mostly it was people congratulating them in private.

There was no band but music was still played, a small dance floor was off to the side, something Buffy found herself spending a lot of time on. There was dancing with Angel, his father, friends, Xander, then her own friends... then all the young kids who'd come.

Presents were opened and when they finally decided to leave bubbles were blown at them and they got into the decorated "Just Married" car and drove off.

OoOoO

They were almost halfway back to the house when Angel looked at her. "What are you thinking about?" he asked softly, squeezing her hand that he'd been holding the whole time.

Buffy bit back tears and told him that she was thinking about being in the dressing room with his mother. How she had been perfect. That she wished so hard her own mother were alive to see this day but that his had made it almost as perfect.

Which she had. Catherine had helped her out in more ways than she could have dreamed.

She touched her just so, telling her how beautiful she looked. She let her cry when she missed Joyce and held her, smoothing her hair and telling her how proud her mother would be of her beautiful young girl.

Catherine had even surprised her with an early gift in the room. A locket that held a picture of Joyce on one side, a picture of her and Buffy on the other.

It made her fall to pieces all over again.

Angel smiled and brought Buffy's hand up to his lips, dropping a light kiss on her knuckles. "You do look beautiful," he told her.

Buffy blushed and looked down. "Thank you."

At the light, he reached over, tipping her head up to look at him. "Don't ever think you're not," he whispered before kissing her.

OoOoO

"Angel!" Buffy shrieked.

"What?" he asked, carrying her to the door.

"Put me down!"

"Nope, not yet."

"What are you doing?"

Angel fumbled for a moment with getting the keys into the lock, but finally did. He kicked the door open and carried her inside. "Carrying my bride over the threshold, of course," he said with a smile. He bent his head to kiss her again and spun around before letting her back on her own two feet.

"Crazy man."

He smiled and began removing his jacket and then his tie.

OoOoO

The two of them changed into some more comfortable clothes after grabbing some real food to eat after the long day. Buffy taking off the dress was much to Angel's disappointment. She almost had to fight him off of her to let her go grab something else to put on.

Afterward, the two made some calls, cuddled on the couch, watched a moving until they fell asleep.

Neither really spoke about what they had just done. The severity of it.

But then again they had many times before the actual event, and figured it could always wait until tomorrow.

OoOoO

When Angel woke in the middle of the night he groaned. Blinking his eyes a few times, he looked down at Buffy laying on top of him though and smiled. He ran a hand down to her hair then bent his head to kiss the top of her head.

He couldn't believe they had actually gotten married just hours before. That she actually went through with it. That she'd married him.

Buffy Summer was now his wife.

The frightened little girl who had ran from him out into the rain was now the one he'd promised forever to.

More than half of the time she refused to believe it was "real" real. That he was marrying her because he wanted to spend his life with her. Not just because of the situation she had around her.

He knew he probably should have gotten that straightened out long before they walked down the aisle, but he also figured he had the rest of his life to prove to her every day that this was exactly what he wanted. That she was. For the rest of his life, every day, every second.

He was in love with her, and wanted a life with her, a family.

Maybe not have everything right then in this very second, but someday... someday have the world.

OoOoO

Angel gently moved himself from under the tiny blonde so he could stand. He stretched, popping a few bones, then bent to pick his bride up.

She stirred but never woke, just snuggled closer and whispered his name as he carried her to their room.

Angel laid her down in the large bed and covered her up. He went to use the bathroom quickly before joining her.

He knew this wasn't exactly the typical wedding night, but he didn't mind. He was happy just to be around her, to hold her, sleep beside.

Not that he wouldn't have minded more... but that was a long way off. He knew that and was fine with it. She was still a very young girl and working through a lot. He had no intention to push her into anything.

They did have some pretty serious make-out sessions though. And he was taking a lot of cold showers these days.

But, he knew it was all well worth it. That she was, they were.


End file.
